“Who are the Grateful Dead, and why do they keep following me?” -Long "New Yorker" article about the Grateful Dead

“Who are the Grateful Dead, and why do they keep following me?” -Long "New Yorker" article about the Grateful Dead

Licorice

Good stuff here:

"The music, even in the standard verse-chorus stretches, often had a limber, wobbly feel to it that struck many listeners as slovenly but others as sinuous and alive, open to possibility and surprise. It came across as music being made, rather than executed. “These guys have evolved a thing where each guy is playing a running line all the time,” David Crosby once said.

“That’s electronic Dixieland.” The music critic Brent Wood has ascribed the sound of it to “the band’s emphasis on true polyphony, a texture heard only rarely in contemporary popular music.

Seldom do rhythm guitar, keyboard or drum parts vary at the same time as the bass and lead guitar. . . . Still more infrequently are all six parts being improvised.”

So you could attribute an aversion to the Dead to a failure of polyphonic appreciation. Or you could chalk it up to taste. “Our audience is like people who like licorice,” Jerry Garcia said. “Not everybody likes licorice, but the people who like licorice really like licorice.”

Re: “Who are the Grateful Dead, and why do they keep following me?” -Long "New Yorker" article about the Grateful Dead

Great piece of writing, very fair on the good and bad sides of the Dead, thank you for posting that.

The Grateful Dead are really fucking obscure and for serious music obsessives only in Europe, we just didn't have that whole Deadhead culture here as they hardly ever came here. Still kicking myself for not seeing them in 1990 when I had the chance - Tony Blair made it, the dick

Re: “Who are the Grateful Dead, and why do they keep following me?” -Long "New Yorker" article about the Grateful Dead

Bump for the night crowd.

Polyphony is a property of musical instruments, meaning they can play multiple notes simultaneously.

Quoting: wisc_natureboy

Well, they did have 2 drummers and the rhythm guitarist was good enough to play lead.

I think they're good, but peaked with American Beauty.

Most of the 'Deadheads' I know were trippers, just not my gig. Garcia was damn good though, smooth, clean with his own style. Not a shredder by any means, but he could make that guitar sing pretty sweet...

Re: “Who are the Grateful Dead, and why do they keep following me?” -Long "New Yorker" article about the Grateful Dead

One of the most interesting parts of that article points out that more music is in circulation of the Grateful Dead than any other musicians in the history of the planet, and their archivist suggest there will be another 50 years at least of archive releases. I got an Ed Sanders oo-ee-oo reading that!

Re: “Who are the Grateful Dead, and why do they keep following me?” -Long "New Yorker" article about the Grateful Dead

I was there at the end...Watched them all walk away from buckeye lake.

Quoting: Chrit

I was at Soldier Field '95.For all the complaints I heard that night, all I could think was here is a man who didn't call in sick, when he probably should have.Best to focus on the beauty and transcendence rather than the demise. ;-`)

Buckeye Lake, is that the place just East of Columbus? Legend Valley now. Saw DSO there for three nights this past Summer, and Phil and Bobby there a month earlier. ;-`)

Re: “Who are the Grateful Dead, and why do they keep following me?” -Long "New Yorker" article about the Grateful Dead

I was there at the end...Watched them all walk away from buckeye lake.

Quoting: Chrit

I was at Soldier Field '95.For all the complaints I heard that night, all I could think was here is a man who didn't call in sick, when he probably should have.Best to focus on the beauty and transcendence rather than the demise. ;-`)

Buckeye Lake, is that the place just East of Columbus? Legend Valley now. Saw DSO there for three nights this past Summer, and Phil and Bobby there a month earlier. ;-`)

Quoting: wisc_natureboy

It was always a good time.

I'm only human, it's my biggest flaw.

We must all realize a sink a chair and a pillow are all luxuries of home and a soldiers helmet takes the place of all three.

From Youtube comments:One of THE greatest shows the Dead ever played. Legendary Cornell 5/8/77. I was lucky enough a couple years back to score a pristine copy of this show in it's entirety. The "thing that happens at the end of Morning Dew might just blow your fucking mind. Yeah, it's that amazing, and to this day I'm still not sure exactly where that sound comes from. ?????

From Youtube comments:One of THE greatest shows the Dead ever played. Legendary Cornell 5/8/77. I was lucky enough a couple years back to score a pristine copy of this show in it's entirety. The "thing that happens at the end of Morning Dew might just blow your fucking mind. Yeah, it's that amazing, and to this day I'm still not sure exactly where that sound comes from. ?????

xxxdwbxxx 2 weeks ago

Quoting: wisc_natureboy

I have a crappy, beat-up, worn-out cassette tape of that show. One of the best in my opinion.

“A free people ought not only to be armed and disciplined, but they should have sufficient arms and ammunition to maintain a status of independence from any who might attempt to abuse them, which would include their own government.” --President George Washington

Re: “Who are the Grateful Dead, and why do they keep following me?” -Long "New Yorker" article about the Grateful Dead

Pretty hard for me not to find time to listen to at least a couple tracks from Workingman's Dead everytime I go past it in my FLAC album collection on the machine here.

Bought the album Summer of 71. Never found any other of their albums as compelling, but my brother had Old & In The Way with J. Garcia in 73/74 when rock sucked so bad all there was was Blue Grass or Country. 'Bout wore Old & In The Way out.

Tremendous play order in Workingman's Dead. Every song stands on its own. Timeless. Black Peter, High Time, Cumberland Blues, New Speedway Boogie...